New and Variant Units

A.K.A. "More Fun Toys to Nuke Things With"

Since its inception, Ogre and its relatives have inspired plenty of user-created units. Henry Cobb has even written a formula for evaluating the cost of new units. We'd like to gather as large an archive of new units as we can; if you have any you'd like to see here, send it to Fish Flowers and he'll put it up.

This page is dedicated to armour units of all types: tanks, howitzers, GEVs, whatever. It does not have Ogres, airplanes, helicopters, or boats of any type. Those will all be stored on separate pages, whenever we get them HTMLised.

Please note that almost all colour text is provided by the authors, and what isn't given by them was made up by the compiler. None of it should be viewed in any way as canon.

The Units, in no particular order:

This is an example of a small obsolescent field howitzer. Rather than firing rocket-assisted missiles (as do the more modern howitzer units), it simply fired large traditional artillery shells on ballistic arcs, which accounts for the shorter range and power: without terminal guidance, fewer of the shells would arrive close enough to the target to have any effect.

This is the same hull as the GEV-PC, but with a limited missile system in place of the "grunt racks". It cannot carry any infantry. It fires the same type of missiles as the Missile Tank, but it fires fewer of them and those less accurately.

Considered the quickest and dirtiest of the quick and dirty conversions, this is a standard LGEV with tube frames welded onto the sides and the fans adjusted to trade off some speed for lift. Two MI troopers would hold onto each side as this unit zipped around the battlefield. (It carries one squad of MI but no Militia "on top.") This conversion was first spotted in Paneuropean service in North Africa, but its origins remain obscure. It generally takes 30 minutes (8 turns) of shop time to convert the unit either way (LGEV to LGEV-PC or back).

Originally a creation of the GEV-intensive NA Combine forces, this unit was later converted by Paneurope and Brazil for use in the Sahara and Amazon Combat Zones. This is yet another conversion of the Light GEV, where the unit has been burdened with a one-shot missile pack, similar to Heavy Weapons Infantry. The weight of the pack slows the unit down somewhat, and the SGEV must go to ground briefly to provide a stable firing platform. However, once the missile pack has been fired, the SGEV is treated in all ways like an LGEV, except that it is worth 5 VPs to the enemy if destroyed.

A cheap alternative to the Light GEV, the Armoured Car was a swift, rugged, all-terrain vehicle used in the role of scout. Along with the MBT and APC, it was a popular unit with forces which could not afford more advanced units, such as China, Third-World powers, and peripheral Paneuropean states.

An innovative design from the close of the Last War was the Gun Truck. No one source is credited with the design of the gun truck; it was probably discovered many times, and lost with the inevitable destruction of the discovering unit. No written accounts existed until very late in the war.

A large, relatively slow vehicle, this unit is a mobile launcher for two Ogre-type missiles. These are identical to standard Ogre missiles. Once fired, each missile is gone, and the unit may not be reloaded during a battle. If the vehicle is destroyed, the missiles are too. The missiles can be fired singly, or both at the same time. They do not have to be targeted on the same unit, but because the small tank lacks the Ogre's sophisticated battle computers, if both missiles are launched on the same turn at different targets, the targets must be within 2" (one hex) of each other.
The tank is also armed with a multibarreled cannon for self-defence.
[7 points is an ugly number. Would it be worth 9 points if it had 3 missiles? What if it had 3 but could only fire 3 at a time? What if it could fire two at a time but not all three at once? – SJ]

This is a Cruise Missile Crawler which has been converted to carry three Ogre missiles instead of one larger cruise missile. Due to its limited sensors and targeting apparatus, it may only fire one missile per turn. It carries a small point-defence cannon in addition to its missile load.

Once the first two missiles have been fired, the tank's lightened load changes movement to Move 2, with a movement mode of TNK.

The Missile Tank was a perennial favorite among troops of many nations. One problem, however, was that it wasn't especially nimble. This prevented it from moving with a fast attack group, or from responding to a breakthrough. It also made the missile tank seem less glamorous. So at various times in the war designers experimented with removing some armor and the rocket-boost assists for the missiles, to allow a higher cruising speed. The result was a slightly more nimble missile tank, but one which was vulnerable to infantry counterattacks.

The MBGEV is usually found in small numbers, attached to tank and GEV units. It provides firepower equivalent to a Heavy Tank, but can cross rivers and lakes, a capability HVYs lack. The MBGEV cannot carry infantry.

[Compiler's Note: I find that a defence of 3 is too powerful, I prefer D2.]
Although the GEV-PC usually provides sound infantry transport, much of the battlefield is often too rough for it to travel through. The MICV fills this gap. It too can carry a full platoon of infantry, though only one squad rides "on top;" the other two are carried inside similar to an APC. The squads carried inside are only destroyed if the MICV is destroyed, but they cannot fire unless they dismount.

This GEV mounts four anti-personnel weapons identical to those found on Superheavy tanks. It was used in a limited role by Combine and Paneuropean forces in a riot-suppression role. Nihon and Chinese APGEVs saw much more combat in a true combat role, as both of those powers relied heavily on infantry and militia (in the case of China). They were also used extensively in the Sahara Combat Zone, where armored units were vastly outnumbered by infantry. Although ineffective against other armoured units, the APGEV is ideal for engagements involving large bodies of battlesuited infantry or militia.

Your basic hovertruck with a little extra BPC armour strapped onto the side and a light railgun mounted on top. Built as a compromise between the rather expensive GEV-PC, the defenseless hovertruck, and the outmoded APC, this vehicle can carry two squads of infantry or three squads of militia.

The Game-Breakers' Gaol:

This is where I've stuck vehicle designs that "break the game." That is, units which make obsolescent accepted units without costing any more, any unit that has a move-fire range of 16" or more without being very expensive, and so on.

Placement here is based entirely upon my own opinion of a unit's effectiveness. It's not a personal slight by any means. And placement here shouldn't stop anyone from using them if they want to – it's your game, do what you want with it.

The Scout Tank is build on a missile tank chassis, but with some of the armour removed to increase its speed. Its purpose is to find the enemy and conduct hit-and-run attacks in rugged terrain unsuited to GEVs. The Scout Tank cannot carry infantry.

A comment by Henry Cobb: "The problem with a Missile GEV that makes an attack three at eight inches and then retreats at least four inches is that no matter how many heavy tanks you can buy for the cost, it can kill them all without once coming under attack (on open ground)."

So that's all there is. Like I mentioned earlier, if you have a design you'd like to see here, just send me email.